ISLAND REPRESENTATIVE REPORTS JAMAICA July 2001 SUZANNE DAVIS Natural History Division, Institute of Jamaica, 10–16 East Street, Kingston, Jamaica; e-mail:
[email protected] NATIONAL INITIATIVES estry Land Use Policy. The revision is in progress Important Bird Areas Programme and major related issues are covered in the Forest Plan. Further information which may be downloaded In June 2001, BirdLife International’s Partner in from the Forestry Department’s website at www. Jamaica (BirdLife Jamaica) began implementing the forestry.gov.jm. Important Bird Areas [IBA] programme for Jamaica. The IBA programme identifies and assesses sites of international importance for birds and seeks to estab- Parks and Protected Areas lish, at a national level, a network of protected areas Jamaica has two national parks, the Blue and John critical for those species which are site dependent or Crow Mountain National Park (BJCMNP) and the habitat sensitive. This network will be part of the Montego Bay Marine Park. Other protected areas global network for IBA’s coordinated by BirdLife that have been declared include the Portland Bight International (i.e., the Partners). Area, and the Negril and Green Island Watersheds. Activities will include the development of a na- Several other areas, such as the Cockpit Country, tional inventory of sites critical for bird and biodiver- Dolphin Head area, and the Black River Morass, are sity conservation in Jamaica, training and fieldwork, slated to be declared national parks or various cate- advocacy and education programmes, and strength- gories of protected areas eventually. ening partnerships with local, regional, and interna- The Natural Resources Conservation Authority tional organizations.